Surely we’ve all had pain in our lives — both physical and mental.

By definition pain is an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual or potential damage to one’s bodily or mental health.  And because pain is an individual and completely subjective experience, no two people respond or tolerate it in the same way.

What kind of pain — either physical or emotional — have you endured? Was it alleviated? If so, how?

Think back about Pain and share forward!

It is said, “Blood is thicker than water.”,  and  “Family first.”

But we’re also told , “You can pick your friends,  but you can’t pick your family.”

Which is it in your family?  Or have you had both loving as well as strained relationships with your parents,  or with your own children?    Or with siblings,  cousins,  aunts,  uncles,  or in-laws?

Have there been estrangements or feuds in your family,  and if so have they been resolved?

Think back about Family Relationships and share forward!

War has always been too much with us. Today, on a planet shriveled by media, we are surrounded by this horrible human ritual.

Did you play war as a child?  Did a parent or grandparent fight in WWII?  Did you fight in Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan? Have you lost loved ones to war?  Have you protested war? How do you feel about war today?

Think back about War and share forward!

Does this sound familiar?  You finish a challenging task and think “Good job!” But soon you start second-guessing: “Couldn’t I have done it better? Why didn’t I do this or that?”

Before long the “A” you initially gave yourself dissolves into a “B” and sometimes a “C,” and you’re left thinking, I should have been perfect, but I wasn’t!

Are you your own worst critic? Have you ever wondered why?

Think back about My Own Worst Critic and share forward!